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December 1, 2007

Why Did Leeland Eisenberg Do It?

leeeisenberg.jpgLeeland Eisenberg has been named as the man who took staffers hostage yesterday at Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters in Rochester, NH.

He was already a man on the edge when he took the hostages. According to an AP report, his wife was divorcing him, and he was "due in court with her for a domestic violence hearing." He had a record for drunk driving and domestic violence, and he was involved in an odd incident when he held a news conference to complain about police placing fliers on unlocked cars.

Reports during the hostage crisis stated that Eisenberg had been drinking for days and that he had road flares, not a bomb, strapped to his body. The report of the road flares turned out to be true. When he was holding the hostages, WHDH said he requested cigarettes, Pepsi, and alcohol. Police denied him the Pepsi and the alcohol.

Regarding Eisenberg's reasons for wanting to speak to Clinton, CNN said that "Eisenberg said he wanted help getting psychiatric care, but had been turned away because he didn't have the money."

The Globe also found that Eisenberg "was one of 541 victims of the clergy sexual abuse scandal who received payments in the landmark 2003 settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston." They also said that Eisenberg was formerly known as Ralph E. Woodward Jr and had been molested in the 1980s.

Image of Leeland Eisenberg from Gothamist, who also covers the story.

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Comments (1) [rss]

they denied him the pepsi? that's just cruel.

in all seriousness, i really really hope clinton--or any candidate--uses this episode as a springboard for addressing the need to improve mental health care, because it's a huge problem that gets buried under far more inane issues.

 
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